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Anti aliasing with threshold?
Hi,
I’ve been trying to recreate the Renaissance Film Noir effect and have gotten pretty close. I used a 3d scene I’ve created with a threshold filter applied to it. The black and white is spot on but all the edges are jagged. Is there a way to fix this? -
9 Replies
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I usually do a brightness contrast of 95-99% contrast, brightness then kinda acts as the threshold slider.
I believe there is a plugin suite that did a soft threshold and soft posterize, but can’t remember.Also a levels effect with black and white point very close together can do the trick, sometimes it then helps to also switching to 16bpc mode.
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hmmm, I tried both the solutions. They seem to be better alternatives with the jagged edges but I’m wondering if there is a way to get it as clean as possible. I’m thinking there probably isn’t an easy way to do this.
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The Noise > Median filter smooths edges (but can be very intense and only allows a whole pixel radius), and any blur will slightly soften edges.
I would recommend using one of the techniques Filip suggested, I personally like the Levels effect (if you want it in black & white use the Color Correction > Tint filter first). Then you can slightly blur the footage to soften it if it needs to be softened. For an alternate look try moving the blur before the Levels adjustment… your mileage may vary =)
Darby Edelen
Designer
Left Coast Digital
Santa Cruz, CA -
thnx for the replies
I’ve tried both his techniques already but i think the jagged edges happen due to the filters themselves. I think it happens when the contrast of the footage is very high. The footage itself is clean and is rendered in greyscale to begin with.
I’ve tried the levels method with a blur as well but the jagged edges won’t go away without a pretty noticeable blur. The median filter is pretty good at keeping it clean but I tend to find that a lot of the detail gets taken away even at the lowest setting. I just can’t seem to get it quite as clean as I’d like to.
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Okay, here’s another thought, but be warned: your mileage may vary.
If you find you’re losing too much detail you can try and add some back in by sharpening the footage with your very own High Pass filter (a very valuable filter in Photoshop that is conspicuously absent from AE).
To pull this off you’ll need a new composition with 2 instances of your footage in it.
First, apply the Channel > Invert effect to the top instance of your footage in this pre-comp.
Next lower that layer’s opacity to 50%. You should notice that the screen becomes entirely gray.
Now apply a Box Blur effect to the top layer with 3 iterations (which balances quality with speed pretty well) and start to slowly increase the radius… hold command (mac) or ctrl (pc) to make adjustments in increments of 0.1.
Do you notice anything changing?
The edges and small details in your footage should begin to emerge from the field of gray. The details you see visible here will be added back into the original footage in the next step.
Place this pre-comp above the footage you’re trying to affect and change its blend mode to something like Overlay/Hard Light/Linear Light (in order from least dramatic to most). This will sharpen your footage, adding detail/contrast back in to the edges. In my own test with grayscale footage that has had its range limited by levels, I’ve found that the Vivid Light blend mode may work best, as this only sharpens the edges without adding them in where they are no longer visible in the affected footage.
If you need more from the High Pass process, you can duplicate the pre-comp as many times as you like. If you want less, reduce the pre-comp’s opacity.
Another thought for reducing the intensity of the Median effect is to put it on an Adjustment Layer above your footage with a 1 pixel radius and then reduce the opacity of the Adjustment Layer.
Darby Edelen
Designer
Left Coast Digital
Santa Cruz, CA -
can we do it this like an Action in PS, is there any way to automatize the process?
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Wow, this was a really clever thing to do. Thanks
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I think your way is great, but I can’t unfortunately asccomplish it. My problem starts after applying Box Blur f.e. with low or even higher Blur values the ‘gray’ is NOT changing into reliefs as expected…what should i do to correct this problem…I apprecate any hint…Thanks
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Thanks Darby for this wonderful article…i was searching for a High Pass option in AE (been using the same in Photoshop to add detail to the pics).
Actually we have recently shot an interview & the interviewee is little out of focus…This article has least helped to add some details to the footage.
Regards,
Shitij
https://www.AlwaysHappyPictures.com
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